Another Chance ~Carl Grimes Love Story~

Chapter 4 - King County

We finally come up building, the name King County written above the doors. He uses his sleeve to wipe dust off of the windows and takes a look inside, and I watch his back, holding my knife close to me.

He puts his hand out on the door knob and I grab a hold of his wrist, stopping him from opening the door. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I say.

"Hey, you said it yourself. If you had the chance to go back then you would. I need to go in here. My baby sister is growing up in a world full of flesh-eating monsters. I want her to have something that will make her at least feel like she's safe. You can't stop me."

I look at him and slowly drop his wrist. "Fine. But if you're going to do this, I'm not going to let you get killed." I say, suddenly feeling as if I've known this kid my entire life. He smiles and nods for me to open the door. "Hold on." I say, running back down the street as he follows close behiind. 

"What're you doing?" he whisper/yells. 

I stop and maneuver my way around some speared sticks, grabbing one of the caged animals that lies in the middle to attract walkers. He looks at me, stunned. "Well, what're you waiting for? Go get one!" I tell him, and he follows my lead and grabs another.

We run back to the building. I slowly open the door, hearing a bell form the handle and grabbing a hold of it so it doesn't ring. We both slide the cages into the building discretely, the undead lying on the floor surround them. While they're distracted, we keep quiet, him in the lead as I close the front door behind us. The Walkers don't even notice.

He leads me down a covered walkway, looking back to see if I'm still there. I nod for him to keep moving, and he does, hiding behind the bar to our right. We both peek our heads out, and I keep my knife close to me as he starts trying to get whatever it is that he's getitng. I watch the walkers attacking the cages with their hands and face, seeking for the blood of anything that moves. They're so pathetic. I almost feel bad for them.

I watch him climb over the bar, and onto the other side. He climbs onto a chair, taking a picture from overtop his head, when a hand appears and grabs his leg out of nowhere. He gasps, and I immediately stab it through the head.

A walker or two looks up but focuses their attention back on the subject at their hands. I slowly remove my knife, and me and Carl back out of the barstools and behind the covered wall again.

That's when we see the rat. And the many Walkers that follow it. I feel Carl's hand wrap around my mouth and he stiffles my yell. He grabs my hand and we run to the back of the bar, another door opening and Carl shooting a Walker in the head. I can feel my heart in my fingertips. This is not good. 

I take my knife and stab another two Walkers in the head; one behind me and one coming out of a kitchen, it looks like. We race around the room, his grip tight, letting go whenever he needs to shoot something, but grabbing hold again after. I kick over a table and he shoots another two Walkers, and he drops the picture he grabbed before. I hear him yell "No!" before I open the door again and shut it tight behind us.

"We have to go back in!"

"Where did you drop it?" I say, breathing heavy, holding the door back with force.

"We have to go back and get it! We have to! I have to!" he yells. I just look at him. "It's the only thing I have left!" he yells again. He tries to push through me, but I push him back.

"Not like this." I say. He looks at me. "I said I'm not going to let you get killed, didn't I? Let me go in and do it."

"No way!"

"Carl. Come on."

"You could get hurt just as badly as I could! I'm not gonna have that guilt if something happens to you!" he says back.

"Yeah, but I'm a ninja and specially trained and you are not, so I will be fine." I say, trying to get him to not be so serious about this. He just looks at me. He seems to be pretty good at that.

He finally nods and takes ahold of the door for me, and I run around to the back of the building, still holding my knife. I can't believe I'm about to risk my life for some boy I've just met.

I slip into the back door that leads to the kitchen, and there are no walkers in sight. I walk through to the bar. Thank goodness this place doesn't have creaky floors. I slide in behind them, and reach for the picture when one of them moves its foot up in the air, almost getting kicked in the face. I take the picture and run back out the kitchen door, and back around the building, looking at a picture of what seems to be a shaved Rick, a young Carl, and another lady, who I'm guessing is Carl's mom.

"Hey," I say, rounding the corner of the bar. "Here." I say, handing the picture to him. He looks at it and smiles, taking it all in for a moment.

"You look a lot like her," I say. He peaks his head up and looks at me, and surprisingly wraps his arms around my neck in a hug. I guess something must have happened to her, maybe? I'm not gonna ask, because everytime I do, it seems like something really strikes a nerve with this kid. I reluctantly wrap my arms around him, embracing and taking in the hug.

It's been a long time since I've seen people. It's been a long time since I've spoken to people. It's been a ridiculously long time since I've seen a person my own age, or at least close to it. Anything could happen at any moment, so I savor the feeling of his hands on the back of my shoulders. "Thank you," he tells me, pulling away and looking at the picture again.

"I just... I just thought that Judith should know what her mom looked like," he says, his smile slightly remaining. So, his mom is dead, then. The poor kid. I walk back around the corner, grabbing something I had taken before. "It's all right. I was gonna go back in anyway."

He looks at me like I'm crazy as I pull out a rainbow colored ceramic cat from behind my back. "I just couldn't leave this behind. It's just too damn gorgeous." He chuckles with me as we walk back to where Rick was.